After weeks of the results not going their way, the New York Red Bulls finally found full points over the Philadelphia Union. An opening goal from Dax McCarty and some off-the-bench magic from a still-injured Thierry Henry gave new coach Mike Petke his first career win.

FULL HIGHLIGHTS

THE GOOD

Thierry Henry. Henry really had no right even being on the bench to begin with, let alone seeing minutes in the game. Still nursing an MCL strain, the striker came into the game with 30 minutes left to play. Playing through the pain, Henry not only scored the game winner - a beautiful fluid motion volley, his first goal of the year - but nearly entered goal of the year discussion when he smashed a bicycle kick that just went wide.

Dax McCarty's goal. I'm still not sure quite what happened on New York's first goal. A ball into the box gets sliced by Dax McCarty with his back to the goal, spins weirdly towards the post and pings in past Zac MacMath. But as the goal that ended the RBNY scoring drought at 308 minutes, it was welcome relief to both the fans and the players.

Mike Petke finally earning a win. The newly minted coach has had the team playing for weeks with a style that should have been earning them results. A result was long overdue, and the win will both boost morale in the locker room and reduce fan and media sniping at the team. Let's hope it's the start of a trend.

THE BAD

The Red Bulls' performance in comparison to previous weeks. Compared to the dominance over DC United and San Jose, or even how they controlled portions of the game in Montreal, the Red Bulls were generally lacking this week. The midfield was disjointed, making it difficult for NY's play to build out of the back. But it's hard to argue with the result - you don't have to play pretty, you just have to win.

The first half. Neither team dazzled anyone in the first half. With a single shot on target between the two teams, and referee Silviu Petrescu being rather whistle happy, it wasn't a great ad for the sport.

Peguy Luyindula's finishing. You could argue the former PSG striker had a good game overall - he did contribute plenty to the offense, and set up both Henry's goal and his missed bicycle kick. But plenty of attacks also died at his feet, either from wanting to take an extra touch or from lack of awareness of defenders and teammates around him. Let's chalk it up to rust and hope that once he shakes it off, the goals will start to flow.

THE UGLY

Conor Casey. The former Colorado striker's reputation for playing too physically was on display during his 30 minutes on the field. While he did score Philly's only goal of the match off a long throw, he also committed four fouls, a team high for the afternoon. Most ridiculous was his plowing into goalkeeper Luis Robles hard in the final minutes, which earned him a yellow card and nearly forced a goalkeeper sub from New York.

Philly's chances against New York. Saturday's match was the fifth time the Sons of Ben have trekked up I-95 to watch their beloved Union and make jokes about "the Pink Cows" since joining the league in 2010. It was also the fifth time they've been sent home with a loss. New York also hasn't dropped a result to "the U" in almost two years, having won all five meetings since an April 2011 loss. It's an ugly record for a team that wants to position themselves as "rivals" to hold.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Red Bulls travel to Chicago next Sunday. Had I been considering this match at the beginning of the season, this would be doom and gloom - New York has never won at Toyota Park, and some had pegged Chicago as favorites to win the East after bolstering their roster in the offseason. Yet we find Chicago going into the match with the worst record in the league - 0-3-1 with only one goal scored and nine allowed. As such, it feels like the perfect opportunity for New York to end their curse in the Windy City.

POST-MATCH REACTIONS

Mike Petke on getting his first win as a coach: "Obviously it was very important. I really, truly mean what I said to the guys before the game, and I think I said it to a couple of you guys throughout the week. I didn't consider this a must win. For me I wanted to really listen to what I’m saying and I mean it: nothing in life is a must except for breathing air, paying taxes, stuff like that. To win a soccer game is not a must. These guys have done, for large majorities of previous games, enough to get a result. They earned the result and it just didn’t go our way. It was going to come. Fortunately it came tonight, at home. It was very important leading into Easter tomorrow."

Tim Cahill on the team getting the win for Petke: "You know the game plan is working well but for the manager, we’re so happy for him because he works at it night and day and takes his work home with him, as we do as well and out of everyone I think he deserves it. You can tell he’s passionate for it and for us as players we’ll do anything to get the result for him."

Thierry Henry on his injury and coming in late: "I'm still not 100%. That's why I didn't start, we did agree with Mike to not put me out there right from the start. I said to him, if it's twenty minutes, I'll try to give my best. If it's five, if it's one minute, if you don't need me, don't put me out there. And he just put me out there for thirty minutes or something like that. I'm still not at my best with the knee, but as I said to you, sometimes it does work and sometimes it doesn't. At the end of the day, the most important thing was the win, no matter how, whatever - ooh, I've scored something today. We had to win today."

Luis Robles on the hit from Conor Casey: "I'm just really thankful that nothing came of that. I saw him out of the corner of my eye, so I braced for it. I felt like I was going to flip over - I haven't seen the video yet, but I'm pretty sure my feet did go over my head. As I braced for the impact, I just started trying to move my extremities and praying that everything was working properly. And when it was, I just wanted to take my time, because it was quite an impact."

Robles on if it had been the longest he had been down in his career: "There was this time when I was thirteen, and I got kicked in the nuts, and I thought they were going to have to go and get them. But outside of that, I was down for a while, and it was mostly protocol, because they had to check if I was concussed."

Dax McCarty on his goal: "I think I have a little case of little man complex, because I'm 5'8" and I think I'm 6'4", and I always want to be in the box when the crosses come in...it was a little bit of a fortunate bounce, the spin was really weird on it, but yeah, I just stuck my foot in there and got a pretty good connection and luckily it went in. I think we've been due for a little bit of a good bounce, a little bit of a fortunate bounce, a little bit of luck here and there. We were kind of unlucky the past couple of games, it seemed like there was a wall behind the goalkeeper, and we just couldn't put the ball in. It felt good, I know it felt good for the fans - yeah, I'm happy with it, but I'm much more happy with three points."

Next Match: Sunday, April 7 5 PM, at Chicago (TV: ESPN2)